The latest figures to be released from the Spanish Ministry of Development has shown a decrease of almost 17% on the previous three months activity. The figures also represent a drop of over 6% on the corresponding figures for 2010.

The total number of properties in Spain sold during the third quarter of the year was 75,462, the second worst figure since the beginning of the global credit crunch back in 2008. This figure was only surpassed by the figues from the first quarter of 2011, when just 74,455 properties were sold.

New builds accounted for over a third of all property sales for the period, with resales making up the remaining 66.9% of transactions.

Despite the lower transaction figures, there was some brighter news for the overseas property market, as the figures also showed an increase in the number of transactions made by overseas buyers. Foreign purchases of property in Spain grew by almost 25% in Q3 of 2010, to just over 7,500 purchases. The majority of these purchases from overseas buyers were in Alicante, Malaga and the Balearic Islands.